State of Illinois

Illinois State Police

Leo P. Schmitz, Director

Illinois Missing Children Report 2014

Illinois Missing Children Report 2014

Illinois State Police

State of Illinois Illinois State Police

Annual Report I. INTRODUCTION The I SEARCH program was created by the passage of the Intergovernmental

Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984 (325 ILCS 40/1, et seq.). The program was designed to educate the public, improve the criminal justice system, effect legislative change, and direct assistance for local programs designed to improve child safety. This report is submitted for Calendar Year 2014, in compliance with the final paragraph of the Act, entitled, “Annual Report.”

On January 1, 2013, Illinois changed from the I SEARCH program to The Illinois

Missing Person Clearinghouse. This move was necessary to bring Illinois in line with all other states’ clearinghouse structure for missing persons. Currently all 50 states have a missing persons clearinghouse. The Missing Person Clearinghouse is managed by the Department of State Police.

The Illinois State Police Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) is the

information system linking Illinois police agencies, other state agencies, and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The Intergovernmental Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984 and the National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990 mandates immediate entry of all reports of missing children into LEADS, which are automatically entered into the nationwide NCIC database.

II. ILLINOIS STATE CLEARINGHOUSE FOR MISSING PERSONS

An effective resource in solving cases of missing and exploited children, the clearinghouse is a focal point for the coordination of efforts by law enforcement, social services, education and prevention programs, as well as legislative advocacy and the dissemination of missing children’s photographs. Its responsibilities include: • collecting and maintaining computerized data and investigating information on

missing persons and unidentified bodies in the state; • coordinating with and providing assistance to state and local public and

private nonprofit agencies, including those of other states and the federal government, in the location and recovery of missing persons and the identification of unidentified persons and bodies;

• establishing and operating a statewide, toll-free telephone line for reports of

missing persons and reports of sightings of missing persons; • providing a uniform missing person reporting and investigation protocol for

law enforcement agencies within the state; • publishing a directory of missing persons for dissemination to state and local

public and private nonprofit agencies and the public;

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• compiling statistics on the missing children cases handled and resolved by

the clearinghouse each year, as well as summaries of the circumstances of each case;

• assisting in the preparation and dissemination of fliers about missing persons

and their abductors; • assisting in the training of law enforcement and other professionals about

missing and unidentified persons and bodies; • operating a clearinghouse of information about methods of locating and

recovering missing persons; • operating a resource center of information about the prevention of abduction

and sexual exploitation of children; and • developing and implementing a coordinated program for a statewide

emergency alert system to be used when a child is abducted. III. FISCAL

No fiscal liability to the State of Illinois. All activities are performed under the structure of the Department of State Police.

IV. SPECIAL ACTIVITY Public Act 93-0310 established the Illinois AMBER Plan Task Force to monitor

and review the implementation and operation of the AMBER Alert notification system and the endangered missing person advisory process. On June 18, 2014, the Task Force met in Champaign, Illinois, to discuss ways of updating and enhancing the current AMBER Alert system. The Task Force continues to maintain the AMBER Alert web site, www.amberillinois.org, while also providing information to law enforcement, educators, media, parents, and the general public regarding to the Illinois AMBER Alert Plan.

In January 2014 the Illinois AMBER Alert Task

Force welcomed the partnership of the Illinois Lottery and its provider Northstar Lottery. As a partner, the Illinois Lottery will now utilize its digital lottery terminal inside of retail establishments to display all active AMBER Alert messages.

On January 13, 2014, Illinois observed AMBER Alert Awareness Day. A poster

contest titled “Bring Our Missing Children Home” was launched by the Illinois AMBER Alert Task Force. School superintendents, principals, teachers, community leaders, law enforcement, and parents joined in the effort to educate children about safety issues.

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Hosted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, on March 25-27, 2014, the

Interstate Advisory Council for Missing and Exploited Children held its spring meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. The following agencies were represented: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Fox Valley Technical College, Illinois State Police, Indiana State Police, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Wisconsin Department of Justice, North Dakota State Police, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigations, and Kentucky State Police.

In May 2014, Illinois partnered with Alert GPS to upgrade the AMBER Alert

notification system. This new technology provides a more efficient and effective warning system to law enforcement, media, and the public. The Law Enforcement Alerting Portal (L.E.A.P) delivers major efficiencies to the Illinois AMBER Alert notification system. It provides a quicker more robust alerting technology that enables the issuance of AMBER alerts through a variety of sources including texts, emails, faxes, and RSS feeds, as well as the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). These systems are the same used during severe weather emergencies to provide alerts to broadcasters and individuals through their cell phones.

On May 25, 2014, Illinois observed Missing Children’s Day. To recognize the

day, citizens were asked to “Light the Way Home” by driving with their headlights on and turning on porch lights to raise awareness about the serious issue of missing children.

On August 14-15, 2014, Illinois was invited to take part in the second annual

Midwest AMBER Alert meeting held in Columbus, Ohio. This yearly event brings AMBER Alert coordinators together from all over the Midwest to discuss coordinated efforts in the event an AMBER Alert that crosses state lines.

In September 2014, The Illinois Missing Person Clearinghouse took part in the

annual National Missing and Unidentified Persons Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was hosted by Fox Valley Technical College and brought experts from all over the country together to talk about issues related to missing and unidentified persons, and discuss new and innovative ways to deal with the missing and unidentified population.

The Illinois clearinghouse continues to electronically disseminate information

about missing persons to the Illinois State Board of Education for use in comparison with student enrollment records to identify disparities. These checks have resulted in the cancellation of numerous missing person records. The clearinghouse also provided the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and 50 state clearinghouses with bulletins on active missing person cases. The bulletins featured long-term missing children and high-risk missing person cases from Illinois.

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Missing Juvenile Caution/Endangered 1,379Missing Juvenile Involuntary/Parental Abduction 124Missing Juvenile 10,182Missing Juvenile Habitual Runaway 4,217Missing Juvenile AMBER 8Missing Juvenile Runaway 5,716

Missing Children: A Statistical Overview MISSING PERSON ENTRY CODES: AMBER Alert - A child under the age of 16 who has been abducted and meets criteria. Endangered - A child who is missing and in the company of another person under circumstances indicating that he/she may be in danger. Habitual Runaway - A child who is missing and has a history of running away. Involuntary - A child who is missing under circumstances indicating the disappearance was not voluntary, i.e., abduction or kidnaping. Parental Abduction - A child who is missing and is known to be with a parent (custodial or non-custodial). Runaway - A child who is missing under circumstances indicating the missing person has run away. Juvenile - A child who is missing and does not meet any of the criteria set forth in other categories.

MISSING JUVENILECAUTION/ENDANGERED

MISSING JUVENILEINVOLUNTARY/PARENTAL ABDUCTION

MISSING JUVENILE

MISSING JUVENILE HABITUAL RUNAWAY

MISSING JUVENILE AMBER

MISSING JUVENILE RUNAWAY

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Missing Child Reports There were 21,626 reports of missing persons under the age of 18 in Illinois during calendar year 2014. This represented a decrease of 1,517 (over 6.5 percent) from calendar year 2013 and 16,256 (nearly 43 percent) since 2007. Only habitual runaways (less than 1percent) and AMBER Alerts saw a small increase. All other categories saw a decrease in missing child cases.

Male vs Female Female children were reported missing in greater numbers than male children by almost 13 percent. The most common age of a female or male missing child is 16. Children age 15-17 were reported missing more frequently than any other group. Children age 12-14 had the second highest frequency. These two age ranges totaled 20,705, or 96 percent, of all missing children reports for calendar year 2014.

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

37,882

33,802 32,69831,374

29,33826,422

23,14321,626

Missing Children Reports 2007-2014

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Age Female Male Total>1 7 2 91 1 1 22 2 2 43 2 0 24 1 2 35 0 1 16 0 3 37 0 3 38 2 1 39 2 1 310 1 1 211 3 7 1012 6 10 1613 19 24 4314 47 36 8315 103 60 16316 119 78 19717 79 60 139

totals 394 292 686

Active Missing Children Cases Of the 21,626 reported missing children, 20,940 were cleared through arrest for non-traffic offenses; the child was recovered, located and returned home; or the child was found deceased. This number reflected a near 97 percent clearance rate for calendar year 2014. However, as of January 1, 2014, there were 686 children still listed as missing. The majority (85 percent) are between 14-17 years of age with 15-16 year old females making up the largest percentage (33 percent).

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AMBER Alerts During calendar year 2014, the Illinois AMBER Alert Notification Plan was activated five times. Those five AMBER activations involved seven children. All seven children were recovered safely. Although most of the recoveries had something to do with the Alert, one recovery in particular was the direct result of the AMBER Alert broadcast.

Technology Upgrades Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA): In 2014, the Illinois AMBER Alert system began utilizing Wireless Emergency Alerts to notify the public via cell phone towers when an AMBER Alert has been issued in their area. This technology allows for anyone with an approved cell phone to receive AMBER Alert messages if they are in the same geographical area where an AMBER Alert has been issued.

Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS): Illinois became the first state to directly distribute AMBER Alert messages through IPAWS. This method of dissemination provides direct routing to the broadcasters for dissemination through their airwaves.

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Missing Children Cases by County A look at the missing children cases per county will show that nearly two thirds all missing children cases are reported in a five county area. Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, and Kane counties make up 65 percent of all missing child cases. Cook County is responsible for filing more missing child reports than all other counties combined. Over 51 percent of all missing child cases are filed in Cook County. The county with the second highest number of missing child reports in 2014 was Champaign County with 1,125. Lee (44 percent), Champaign (37 percent), Ogle (36 percent) and McHenry (30 percent) counties reported the greatest increases in missing child reports from 2013 to 2014. Christian (63 percent), Marion (60 percent), and Livingston (51 percent) counties saw the greatest reduction in missing child cases in 2014.

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The percentage of cleared missing child cases remained nearly the same from 2013-2014. In 2013, 96.4 percent of all missing child cases were cleared. In 2014, 96.9 percent of all missing child cases were cleared by law enforcement. Sixty four of the 102 counties in Illinois (63 percent) cleared all their missing person cases in 2014. Another 18 counties cleared all but 1 of their missing child cases in 2014. Nine counties, including Mercer, Stark, Scott, Cumberland, Calhoun, Hamilton, Gallatin, Hardin, and Pope, did not report a missing child case in 2014.

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In comparison to 2013, Champaign County (30 percent) and Lake County (33 percent) reported the biggest increase in pending missing child cases. Kane County (52 percent) had the lowest decline in pending cases in 2014 compared to 2013. Kankakee, Macon, and Peoria Counties had a decline of 40 percent in 2014. Seventy-eight percent of all pending missing child cases from calendar year 2014 are in the 5 county area of Cook, Lake, Kane, DuPage, and Will. That is up from 76 percent in 2013. Sixty-four counties had no pending missing child cases at the end of calendar year 2014.

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Illinois Missing Children by County 2014

County Missing Reports Total Cleared Total Pending Adams 130 129 1

Alexander 2 2 0 Bond 3 3 0

Boone 36 36 0 Brown 2 2 0 Bureau 12 12 0 Calhoun 0 0 0 Carroll 7 7 0 Cass 14 14 0

Champaign 1125 1115 10 Christian 23 23 0

Clark 10 10 0 Clay 2 2 0

Clinton 8 8 0 Coles 51 51 0 Cook 10548 10074 474

Crawford 5 5 0 Cumberland 0 0 0

DeKalb 115 114 1 DeWitt 9 9 0 Douglas 4 4 0 DuPage 820 812 8 Edgar 5 4 1

Edwards 1 1 0 Effingham 23 23 0

Fayette 12 12 0 Ford 4 4 0

Franklin 64 61 3 Fulton 30 29 1

Gallatin 0 0 0 Greene 3 3 0 Grundy 43 43 0

Hamilton 0 0 0 Hancock 8 8 0 Hardin 0 0 0

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Henderson 1 1 0 Henry 55 54 1

Iroquois 16 16 0 Jackson 88 87 1 Jasper 2 2 0

Jefferson 192 191 1 Jersey 6 6 0

Jo Daviess 12 12 0 Johnson 3 3 0

Kane 913 905 8 Kankakee 234 228 6 Kendall 72 71 1

Knox 55 54 1 Lake 883 856 27

LaSalle 174 172 2 Lawrence 4 4 0

Lee 41 40 1 Livingston 57 56 1

Logan 17 17 0 Macon 323 317 6

Macoupin 42 41 1 Madison 337 329 8 Marion 149 148 1

Marshall 4 4 0 Mason 5 5 0 Massac 14 14 0

McDonough 5 5 0 McHenry 281 279 2 McLean 224 223 1 Menard 4 4 0 Mercer 0 0 0 Monroe 20 20 0

Montgomery 17 17 0 Morgan 26 25 1 Moultrie 6 6 0

Ogle 44 44 0 Peoria 605 596 9 Perry 32 32 0

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Piatt 1 1 0 Pike 2 2 0 Pope 0 0 0

Pulaski 3 3 0 Putnam 1 1 0

Randolph 13 13 0 Richland 9 9 0

Rock Island 367 363 4 Saline 6 6 0

Sangamon 463 451 12 Schuyler 3 3 0

Scott 0 0 0 Shelby 4 4 0 Stark 0 0 0

St Clair 414 382 32 Stephenson 161 158 3

Tazewell 111 108 3 Union 4 4 0

Vermillion 184 180 4 Wabash 2 2 0 Warren 10 10 0

Washington 6 6 0 Wayne 15 14 1 White 7 7 0

Whiteside 96 95 1 Will 819 801 18

Williamson 84 83 1 Winnebago 752 723 29 Woodford 7 7 0

Total 21626 20940 686

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DEFINITIONS Child - For the purposes of this report, a child is considered to be any person under the age of 18. Missing Child - Any child whose whereabouts are unknown to the parent or legal custodian and the disappearance is not the result of an accident, catastrophe, or arrest. Clearance - Children who were reported missing but have been located, returned home, arrested, or found deceased. Illinois AMBER Alert Notification Plan - A voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies, broadcasters, and the National Weather Service to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child abduction cases meeting the below-listed criteria. This is the same concept used during severe weather emergencies. The goal of the AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe return of the child. AMBER Alert Criteria • law enforcement must confirm a child has been abducted; • the child must be under the age of 16 or have a proven mental or physical disability; • police must believe the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death; and • there is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor, and/or suspect’s

vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help.

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ILLINOIS STATE POLICE

CLEARINGHOUSE

FOR MISSING PERSONS

2200 SOUTH DIRKSEN PARKWAY

SUITE 238

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 62703-4528

1-800-U HELP ME

(1-800-843-5763)

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ISP 4-193 (6/15) Mwww.illinois.gov www.isp.state.il.us